Presentprompts

Percy stumbled upon what happens to some race horses when they can't perform anymore and decided he wanted to find a way to help horses like them.

Apollo loved how passionate Percy was about this and decided to give Percy what he needed to get the place up and running. He even put wards around the ranch so his boyfriend won't have to worry about monster attacks. He also made sure stables exclusive for his fire horses would be around for when he decides to stay the night with Percy.

So Percy opens his rescue, he gets some volunteers, and opens donations. He opens the place to the public for some hours to give tours, even offer horse riding on the few horses that are capable. What the people visit the most for is the Therapeutic Horse Grooming. People like to come and zen out while combing the horses, while the horses love having the human interaction and LOVE being groomed.

Percy also opened a youtube channel for the ranch and gets good revenue from his videos. People especially love it when he livestreams when the horses go swimming. Being able to let the horses run on the beach and swim at sea is part of the reason why he chose the location he did.

Being that the ranch is monster free, his ranch becomes a popular stop over for demigods. Be it for quests, or just getting to camp or back home, Percy provides a safe space and refuel supplies for travel weary demigods.

Dunk doesn't realise he's becoming a vampire, his skin blisters too long in the sun, he eyes ache whenever he's outside, he's been hungry before but now it's an all consuming pit in his stomach demanding something he cannot name, his canines had fallen out and sharp pointed teeth have replaced the old ones, these ones cutting into his gums and it feels as if his limbs have been grotesquely extending themselves, he tries to look into a mirror and see the physical difference himself but every mirror he finds must be broken for they do not show him in its surface. He feels a stranger in his own body. All he does now is sleep through the day, and roam at night, he does not know why he wonders just that he knows he's looking for something.

Egg is excited to have a fledgeling for himself, his family had forbade the younger Targaryen's from making ones just like them until they were presented to the family and given approval, but Egg didn't want them to turn his noble knight away when he had only just found him. So when Dunk laid himself to sleep, he had snuck his way to his prone form and turned his head away till his neck was in full view. When he bit down, Dunk had grunted and tried to squirm away but Egg had used his strength to hold him in place, when Egg had felt the tentative bond form between them he was ecstatic.

au where instead of having the trial of seven dunk is like yeah no actually I would prefer to live thanks and just fucking splits, and everyone is there waiting for him but he's already got like a six hour head start. baelor would find out about this as he's like in the process of putting valarrs armor on, bc he never even considered that dunk would run

naturally, there would be a manhunt, and a fat fucking bounty on his head. like big enough that even the small folk that would otherwise support dunk would be stupid not to rat on him, but by some miracle he gets away, and eventually he's just presumed dead bc literally nobody has seen him in forever and it's kind of hard to miss him.

the whole situation has spoiled the idea of knighthood and chivalry for dunk. like all he did was protect tanselle, and Aerion would've had his head for it, or at the very least there would've been a trial by 7. like how many good men were they going to let die for the sake of the dragons pride. so like even if he wasn't literally being hunted by the whole realm he's like fuck this knight shit anyways.

years pass. then there's some rumors going around, about a giant bandit roaming the kings road. but he never bothers the small folk, he's in the business of robbing lords and nobles, and also beating the brakes off of other bandits who do bother the peasants.

so naturally, bc he's bothering the nobility and also bc everyone is like hmmm a giant guy that stands up for small folk...sounds like someone else that caused a lot of problems for the crown, the search for dunk starts up again. but by now the people love him so much that they won't narc on him even for gold, bc he's been on his robin hood grind for years, bc even as a bandit you can't take away dunks good heart.

anyway, they can't catch him, and I imagine Baelor is still pressed about it on like a personal level even after years bc he was going to show up for the guy, and then he ran

but Baelor's got bigger problems bc whoops blackfyre rebellion. so there's a battle, and baelor is badly injured and his host has just fucking scattered bc they got beat so badly, so he's just like lying half dead on the battlefield and is like well this is the end.

but then some giant of a man drags him off the field. I imagine he blacks out at some point, but he wakes up in some random camp in the woods, and dunk is there and has patched up all of Baelor's wounds. but baelor doesn't recognize dunk at first so he just thinks he's a kind stranger or something and is like you have to get me back to kings landing, you'll be rewarded, like you'll be so rich, you just have to help me.

and dunk knows exactly who he dragged off that field, so he's like yeah so here's the thing. I don't want your money, and you're actually my prisoner now. and what's going to happen is I'll take you back to kings landing safely, if and only if I get a full pardon for my crimes.

then baelor realizes who it is. and he's like holy fuck ser duncan, and dunk is like don't call me Ser, all that knight shit is a big lie, I don't want any part of that.

baelor is like ooookay well fine, you'll get a pardon but you have to get me back safely.

this is, naturally, where our enemies to lovers arc starts.

so we're adventuring halfway across westeros, and as they're riding Baelor is like why did you run, I would've fought for you, and dunk is like fought for me? you could've stopped the whole trial if you wanted to. and Baelor's like well technically yes, but you did strike a prince and dunk is like and I'll strike another one if you keep talking

and they're stopping in taverns in whatnot along the way, and baelor is like aren't you afraid we'll be recognized. and dunk is like I know we're being recognized but how about you take a look at the painting on that wall. and it's a giant knight fighting a dragon, like anti-targ pro robin hood dunk type shit. dunks got entire villages loyal to him at this point. but baelor misses the point completely and is like oh so you'll side with the Blackfyres then and dunk is like no, we're on team no dragons full stop.

but the more time they spend traveling the more Baelor is like maybe he is as good as I once thought, like okay he's speaking straight treason every time he opens his mouth but he's also helping all these people, and they all love him, and maybe I am the bad guy.

and so then he starts asking dunk about the realm, from a commoners perspective, and dunk is like okay maybe he does actually care, he's just so insanely out of touch that he didn't realize how bad a lot of people have it.

anyways they grow to have a begrudging respect for each other, and that grows into something else entirely, but it's soooo doomed bc once dunk gets them to kings landing and gets pardoned he's immediately fucking right back off to his forest no matter how much Baelor begs him to stay.

Small folk have their own traditions and magics that they keep largely to themselves and figure out how to work within their chosen religion. There is one tradition that they've kept alive all through the changing of the Faiths in the land. Marriage to the dead.

In olden times, it was common for young maidens who got pregnant out of wedlock to choose a recently deceased man and wed them before the heart tree, back when they followed the Old Gods. Now there are Graveside Septons, who are willing to perform a ceremony for coin or some other trade.

It was a marriage of protection and convenience and... well the spouse is dead, so what care have they for the living? Only, sometimes, very, very rarely, a living spouse could provide a pathway back to the living for the dead spouse. Even if their body had been burn too ash, as had been the tradition in the earlier days for dealing with the dead, when the specter of the Long Night still held sway. When all of Westeros remembered, not just small pockets. When such treatment for the dead would keep them from being risen as a Wight, but would not stop them from being given a pathway home...

This marriage rite continues, even thousands of years after the Faith of the Seven has become the dominant religion. Every now and again, a young maiden will go to the Graveyard Septon and she will be wed to a recently deceased man and... he will be restored to life, hale, whole. That was always the difference between those resurrected through the Pathway, and those resurrected as wights or through the fire magic of the Red God. If they follow the pathway home, they come back as they were before they died. All of themselves.

It is said that only when the maiden truly loved her chosen spouse would they be granted the Pathway back to life. But it's a tradition so shrouded in mystery and magic and lost lore that no one knows for sure.

In the olden, olden days, no one speaks of it it, but it wasn't just maidens pregnant out of wedlock who would marry the dead. Soldiers would come home from war and wed their fallen comrades before the heart tree, or by the words of the Graveyard Septon. Sometimes, if they were lucky, their fallen companion would find the Pathway home. But that tradition hasn't been kept since the Andals took over and the Faith ousted the Old Gods... but it's remembered though. Whispered among the Small Folk.

Baelor dies at Ashford, his body is set to the pyre. In a foolish, drunken, desperate attempt to have Baelor back, Dunk takes some of his ashes, and he goes to the nearest weirwood tree that he knows of, from his past traveling with Arlan. He's seen enough First Men weddings to know how they work, he's even witnessed a few Weddings to the Dead, so he knows what to do for those, too. He says the words, he scatters the ashes, and he kneels before the heart tree and bows his head, making his vows and prayers to the Gods he doesn't know if he believes in.

When the voice calls him, he almost thinks he made it up. That it's just his mind playing tricks on him. But the voice speaks again.

"Ser Duncan? Where are we? What have you done?"

There, kneeling beside him at the heart tree, wearing the same armour he died in, the same armour he was burned in, is Prince Baelor. Dunk offered him a Pathway... and he followed it home.

He's smart enough to immediately realise that he's been thrown into Ancient Greece, even noting that something about this time period seems a bit off from what he remembers in the textbooks back at Camp Half-Blood. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much time to figure out what exactly is off, because right from the start he — weapon-less and alone — gets attacked by a monster.

The good news: someone rescues him.

The bad news: it's Hermes.

.

.

.

Now here's the thing. Because Luke has spent the last couple of years being dead, his soul still retains traces of the Underworld. Those traces are potent enough — at least from the start — that they cover Luke's divinity and mislead Hermes into thinking that he's a dead mortal who accidentally wandered out of the Underworld.

As a psychopomp, he's more than happy to escort Luke back, especially when Luke is eager to return to the Underworld — which, Hermes remarks, is quite the rarity amongst dead spirits. Annoyed as he is, Luke can only agree — he still hates Hermes, but 1) he's not delusional enough to think that he can outrun an Olympian, and 2) since Hermes thinks he's dead anyway, he just has to put up with Hermes until he escorts him back to the Underworld. Then Hermes will leave, Luke will go back to being dead, and none of this will be a problem anymore.

Right?

(He'll convince Hades and the three judges to make him dead again. Somehow. He's running on desperation and adrenaline, alright? He'll iron out the details of this plan later.)

What Luke fails to realise is that since he's now alive, the traces of the Underworld that his soul has retained will naturally dissipate. So in the next few days of his and Hermes' journey to the Underworld, the imprint of death on him fades and fades until...it disappears.

And Hermes realises that Luke is not only very much not dead, but that he is, somehow, a demigod child.

His demigod child.

.

.

.

"You."

Luke barely manages to hold back his flinch from the grip on his wrist. Hermes' touch is hot, almost searing; Luke is half-afraid he'll see the burn imprints of Hermes' fingers on his skin once he releases him.

He tries to tug his hand from Hermes' grasp, but the Olympian remains unmoving, his hand like a steel band around Luke's wrist.

"...Lord Hermes," Luke says slowly. His frame is rigid with tension, eyes fixed on the the most dangerous thing in the room. "I thought we were returning to the Underworld now?"

For a moment, Hermes says nothing. From under his helmet, his unblinking eyes bore into Luke's, pupils blown so wide that Luke can barely see the thin blue ring of his iris. It's distinctly unsettling, to have the entirety of a god's attention directed at you, to be the subject of their single, sole, focus.

The hairs on the back of his neck rise. DANGER, the reptilian part of his hindbrain screams like an air raid siren.

...He looks like he wants to swallow me whole, Luke thinks suddenly, but immediately dismisses the thought. What a crazy thing to think. He must be going insane from sleep deprivation.

"We are not going to the Underworld," Hermes replies. His voice is even and smooth, completely pleasant, just like how he normally sounds. Had this been any other situation, Luke would have thought that he was joking.

But Hermes isn't smiling.

And Luke's heart drops into his stomach.

"...What?" He croaks. "Why? You — you said you would take me back! You said that was your job!"

Again, he tries to pull his hand away, but it only makes Hermes' grip on Luke's wrist tighten. The divinity in the air thickens, so intense that Luke's knees momentarily go weak. This is the power of an Olympian in their prime, he realises, dread dripping down his spine, at their most dangerous and most cruel.

This is not someone he can escape from.

"Indeed," Hermes says. He hasn't blinked once; he's still looking right at Luke. Why is he still looking at Luke? "I guide the mortal souls of the dead to the Underworld. That is my duty."

"But you..." He reaches out with his other hand, and Luke can only stare as he tucks a curl of Luke's hair behind his ear. His touch is gentle, as if caressing the petals of a fragile flower. "Are neither dead, nor a mortal."

Silence.

"Well?" Hermes prompts. He sounds almost kind. "My little fledgling?"

Luke swallows. A ball of ice has formed in the pit of his stomach, heavy and cold.

"I don't know what you mean." He forces an easy smile, grateful that he manages to keep his voice even. More than anything, he wishes he had Backbiter in his hand. "I am dead. You said it yourself, didn't you?"

Hermes smiles too, then. He smiles with a softness that looks alien on his divine features. A face that looks like it's been carved from marble shouldn't look gentle, Luke thinks wildly. Where is the apathy? The cruelty?

"Did you think I wouldn't uncover the truth?" Hermes asks. "I know not how you did it, but it was clever to fool me with the imprint of death on your soul. Until it faded, that is."

burglars break into a rich person's mansion, but the old man keeps saying he's excited to have roommates. the burglars don't really wanna be murderers, so they humor the old man.

at first, it's comedy and funny, and they're trying to lie like they applied for the lease and the burglars are doing the whole "ACT NATURAL" thing when the old man enters the room while they're doing thieving shit.

then things start to turn.

they can't find the front door.

none of the windows will open.

they try to escape through the backyard and almost starve to death because they got lost in it.

the paintings are watching them. the walls are rearranging behind them. there's always food that's ready for them to eat and they're starting to realize that it isn't the old man cooking the food.

they confront the old man, and he admits that playing along with them was to soften the blow and delay the inevitable; no one who enters the house can leave, and he doesn't know why. he and his own crew of burglars found that out the hard way, and he's the only one left alive.

now everyone's trying to escape, it's not even about stealing shit anymore, and the entire time the old man is just watching them with a sad, knowing expression. he and his own crew tried literally everything the new guys are trying, and none of it worked.

one of the guys starts to lose it, starts saying they're ants in a formicarium.

they realize they don't remember their names anymore.

one of them finds a room with a functional TV, and the news says it's been years since they tried to steal, but three days later they find another room with a different TV, and it says they're forty years in the past.

they realize they don't remember what they liked or disliked anymore.

one of them goes and weeds the garden out of desperation for something to do. the next morning he wakes up with a facial feature he always wanted but was impossible to get, like fangs or reflective eyes or something.

stuff happens, and they realize that this is a fae's den, and yes, they're in a terrarium for humans.

through a series of flashbacks you see them the day they decide to break into the house; the barista who didn't look quite right insisting on having their full names, only to write nicknames on their cups. nicknames they've been using this entire time. the rows of mushrooms they'd driven over to get to the mansion. all the times they ate the food in the mansion.

the scene cuts to the camera being dragged away, out the front door that's hidden behind four different walls, down the driveway, into a tree, and credits. Then the credits stop.

the barista is smiling at the camera.

"I'm sorry, but if you want to know how this ends, I'm going to need your full name please!"

Please actually read this, I can't keep up with all the comments. 🥲

Tag List? Yes, there is a tag list. If you'd like to be ADDED, please leave a comment on the Stories Linked Post or the Tag List Post. If the tags aren't working for some reason, you can either Follow this post by clicking the bell (or the three dots) or follow the Story's Linked Post the same way. I'll update both Relevant Posts when there is a New Part.

Yes, I have an Ao3. It's under the same user name, just with (_) instead of (-). Most of my works are locked due to personal preference, so you'll need an account if you want to read most of them.

I hope y'all keep enjoying the stories as much as I enjoy writing them.

(currently dealing with life, so posts are going to be very, very slow, sorry.)

Stories and Summaries:

Danny running away from his home dimension for such and such reasons (GIW, bad reveal, etc, etc) cue him stumbling around Gotham because holy mother of ambient ectoplasm, Batman.

So anyways he’s just chilling in crime alley, as a struggling guy in Gotham does and then. And then there’s someone else. Looks exactly like him. Not like how he and Dani look similar, her features just softer and rounded with babyfat, no, no, this guy looks exactly like him. Down to the barely there scattering of freckles on the nose bridge.

Like, Bruce seeing a boy who looks exactly like Jason, helping the homeless in Crime Alley while also being homeless? He looks and acts just like Jason. And is a perfect DNA match.

Meanwhile, Jason also sees this teen who's struggling and looks exactly like him, save the scars. He even has the same skunk streak! Jason manages to get a DNA sample as well.

Whelp, looks like he has a long lost twin brother.

They first connected cause people kept mistaking Danny as the Red Hood's lieutenant, Peter Battinson. Jason was curious, but also pissed at the thought someone was pretending to be him. But nope. It's a homeless teen who's trying his best and helping as many people as he can.

Jason goes ahead and asks Danny if he can do a DNA test, just so Danny also knows that they are apparently brothers.

Danny, knowing that they are not brothers but the same person, yet desperate for family agrees happily to connect as much as possible with Jason.

And filter out that rancid Ecto.

He refuses to move into the other's apartment though. He doesn't want to intrude on the others space, nor does he want to be seen as a burden.

It takes months for Jason to convince Danny to move in.

Because of that, Danny filtering Jason's Core, and Jason finally feeling fulfilled at having family that seems to just get him right from the get go, Jason has no time to mess with Tim and little time for the Bat. Nor does he even want to deal with them. He also hasn't been doing much with the Joker, until the stupid clown tries to attack Crime Alley.

Jason's bordering a meltdown.

The Joker is terrorizing Jason's people. The Batman (dad) was reported to be storming Jason's territory to hunt the Joker and him, because he thinks that this is somehow Jason's fault.

Danny, who's been brought into the gang as the person Hood uses to ask about the people and how they're doing (which the other members are thankful that Hood is working with the soup kitchens and trying his best to help Crime Alley), notices that his 'brother' is not okay™. Asks why and what he can do to help.

And Jason just quietly breaks down as he hears the Joker's laugh get closer to the building. Tells Danny how the Joker murdered him. How his adoptive dad disowned him because he thought Jason killed a pedophile, and didn't save him from the Joker. How his dad never avenged him. How he came back, only to find out his dad took in another kid to replace him.

Danny listens.

And his blood boils.

His eyes burn and toxic green.

And when the Joker bursts through the door, manic eyes zeroing in on the two lone teens, cackling, "I fooouuund yoouuuu! Hahahahahah hahahahahahaha!"

Danny's maw was already filled with fangs. His nails tipped like claws and dipped in shadows. Hair caught in a sudden, turbulent wind that whipped the door behind the Joker closed. When the cops could finally pry the doors open, the scene was covered in red and no one else at the horrific murder.

~

Jason and Danny talked. Danny knew Jason had his own secrets. He had his own. But Jason revealed pieces of himself.

That he was Jason Todd, not Peter. That he was raised by 'their' dad and his step mom Catherine. Dad went to prison and his mom, Catherine died of cancer she couldn't afford to treat.

That, when he was 13 and homeless, he was adopted by a billionaires named Bruce Wayne who was secretly the vigilante known as Batman. That he'd become the second Robin. He was on a case to bring in a pedophile but saw no reason why people like that should live. And despite that, Jason had tried to save the man's life when he slipped off a roof, but was too late. But from his father's perspective, it looked like Jason had pushed the man off. So he had rejected Jason, no matter how much he pleaded his innocence.

Leading Jason to seek out his birth mother. Who lured him into a trap, which backfired as the Joker wanted her dead too. How Jason came back to life to find out he was buried next to the woman who betrayed him instead of being in the Wayne cemetery. How he had to claw his way out of the grave six months after being put into it. Only to be hit by a car as soon as he exited the graveyard.

How he'd come back to Gotham after a few years, only to find out the Joker was still alive to kill other people and that his dad replaced him.

(Danny thinks that Bruce Wayne is Vlad Masters equivalent in this world. Which immediately makes him hate the dude, cause what the hell? You had the perfect son you always wanted and you pushed him away, which caused his death!)

Jason asks how Danny was related to the Lazarus Pits. Which confuses Danny. So Jason explains that theirs a green liquid that brings the deathly ill, and sometimes the dead or undead, to full health and living status.

Danny decides that he'll give a partial truth, considering he knows Jason still hasn't revealed everything. He explains that 'their' mom was a scientist that worked for the government studying the fabric between realities with her husband. They discovered a substance that was like green, glowing water and that the in-between dimension was made of it. It was that dimensions version of carbon. And that was where souls went when they died. Mom called the souls Ghosts and hunted them for experimentation. But that she and Danny's dad made a portal to be able to research this in-between dimension.

Only... it didn't work. Not at first, anyways.

Not until Danny died accidentally turning it on, at 14.

"And where was Shelia? Why'd she let you around such dangerous machines, let alone have them in the basement of the house you lived in? What'd she do when you... died?" Jason felt sick. While he was jumping around Gotham rooftops, his brother died. He didn't even know about the other, but still.

"... She didn't even notice. Not for a long time anyways."

"Oh." And for lack of words, Jason asked, "Where's your grave? Might be nice to see if I can get mine moved next to yours. Or yours can be moved next to mine? Sorry, that's weird to ask."

"Haha! Oh my God, no worries dude! That's actually really sweet. But ummm..."

"But?"

"I don't have a grave. I wasn't even buried. My parents didn't even notice I died, remember? They were so focused on the new Portal working, that by the time they even saw me again I had came back to... Mostly full health."

"You know what? I wanted to move my grave anyways. I hate that it's next to that woman even more than I already did. Pick a nice place and I'll move my grave and get you one too. Right next to it."

Danny just stares at him, stunned. His eyes slowly welling with tears.

Then he lunges at Jason, wrapping his arms around his brother's neck.

"Dude. Dude. What the fuck? Why are you so nice? Dude. Do you mean it? Really? You'd move your grave and make me one? Really? I have the best brother. Ever. Oh my God."

He knows Jason is looking for a new place to move his grave and give Danny one, but he wants to visit Jason's original grave. It means so much to even have one, so Danny wanted to honor it. Do the traditional thing of putting flowers, putting the headstone, running fingers over the words, and talking to it. Even if there was no longer a body. He wanted his brother to feel loved, and the dead feel no love stronger than through a form of memorial.

It must suck to be a protective spirit and not even have your grave in your Haunt.

(But Jason had made it clear that Park Row, otherwise known as Crime Alley, was not where he wanted his grave. And not where he wanted his brother's. Danny suggested buying an abandoned farm in Illinois and have their graves there. Jason looked at him funny, until he explained that that's where he grew up and is the complete opposite of Gotham. Sunny, mostly clear skies, easy star gazing, no crime, and it'd be like out of a fairy tale. It'd also be a good safe house, in case anything ever happened.

Danny also explained how, if they put their graves there, visited at least once a month, and put magic sigils up, it'd be near impossible for anyone who they didn't allow to get into the property. Jason looked impressed that Danny knew any magic, let alone how to use it. Danny created a little green light at the end of his index to prove that he could. Jason didn't seem to like that it turned his eyes green, but Danny understands. How could he not when Jason had worriedly told him about his violent episodes after being in the 'Lazarus Pits'?)

The grave was kept cleaner than most. He kinda felt grateful for that. An aged and overgrown grave was seen as sacred and Danny wouldn't have wanted Jason to have to give that up. Maybe Danny should recommend covering their graves with moss, as it'd cover everything quickly? Or maybe clover, which would be less aggressive but give good coverage and be soft to lay on?

"I miss star gazing. Gotham's never been good for it, you know? Little sad you were buried here, since you made it so clear you wanted to leave this city, but felt obligated to stay. I understand, though. Even though you always said how you feel like you're never doing enough, you saved lives. You still do, even if indirectly. You could never truly leave Gotham when you felt like you had to help. I uh, brought daisies. Know how much you liked 'em. Know you'll probably never see 'em. But it's the thought that counts, right? Not like I can get dandelions, like you'd really want. I'd probably be charged with littering. Everyone else considers it a weed. But I know how much you love seeing them. Knew how you used to like picking them and trying to press them like regular flowers when they were covered in seeds to "save your wishes". Park Row may still be a slum, but there's still good people trying their best to get through it all. Just got off another shift at the soup kitchen on the corner of Gale. You're favorite one, that'd always give you an extra roll of bread. Even if it was because they knew it'd keep you out the next day. Well, I need to get going. It's getting dark and we both know that's dangerous in Gotham. Bye, big brother."

An inside joke the two had, since Jason's birthday is the day before Danny's. Obviously, Jason thought that their mother just had a really long labor, or that they were born closer to midnight, just on either side of it.

Dick Grayson, as Nightwing, was in a nearby tree crying. Jason had a little brother, or twin, he'd never told anyone about. Had probably hidden from the family due to not trusting anyone. And said brother came to visit Jason's grave, with clearly bought daisies despite being homeless, to just chat like the other boy could still hear him. Dick's domino recorded the entire thing, so Barbara and Bruce could definitely see this.

Knowing that your little brother had family and didn’t think he could trust you with it is a different type of guilt. 

It’s a guilt in knowing that those tires he was going to steal off your fathers car wasn’t just meant for a quick turn around, that it was meant to sustain an entire other person. It’s knowing that Jason had likely allowed himself to be taken in as a trial run before deeming it safe enough for his sibling. It’s knowing that Jason had found it lacking. It’s knowing that the Wayne’s may have held his wellbeing in their hands but they never held his trust.

And maybe, just maybe, Jason was right for that. 

Dick watches a young scrappy thing settle in front of Jason’s grave. The boy looks just like his brother. Only older. Not fifteen. He looks like a Jason Todd who finally grew into his big hands and broad shoulders. Dick could almost pretend this stranger is his little brother. Almost. 

He's sat on the uncomfortable ground. Dick knows its uncomfortable, he’s sat there too on the anniversary that Bruce refuses to leave the manor on. Too busy staring at a suit in a glass case, waiting, listening, hoping for that bell like laughter to chime once again in the stale air of the cave. He knows because he’s sat there in that very spot that boy is in and played music from bands his little brother liked, read him his favorites until his voice went hoarse, the classics that Dick could never quite enjoy with all their complicated flowery language. 

But there that haggard teenager is, tired and still finding it within himself to gently hold a bouquet in his calloused palm placing it on the tomb of his brother like its the most important thing he’ll ever do. There’s a slim smile on the boys lips as he reads over Jason’s engraved name, running his finger tips across it. His smile is small and soft. Private in a way that Dick knows he’s intruding upon just by laying witness.

And then, then he speaks.

He talks casually, like its any other conversation. Like he isn’t in a grave yard. Like Jason Todd isn’t six feet beneath him. He talks about stargazing, talks about Jason wanting to leave behind Gotham, staying because he felt he had to. He talks about daisies and dandelions. He says goodbye to his big brother and Dick thinks that it must feel agonizing to be older than your big sibling. To reach an age they never did and still keep going with out them. 

Jason Todd had a little brother and Dick Grayson never knew. There has always been anger simmering beneath his skin and Dick has always been good at anger but he’s better at grief. Guilt has always come easy and this is no different. 

*

“No, shut up this is so not funny. I don’t even know what I did but now I’ve got a bird on my tail and he won’t stop making sad eyes at me Jay.”

“It’s a little bit funny.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“You are too so I think it might be genetic.”

“Insufferable. Really. By the way, do you know how hard it is to try and lose the Wayne’s attention? I swear it’s like someone left me in a wet cardboard box on the side of the road and they just thought ‘yeah, you’re coming home with me’ like I’m some pathetic half drowned cat.”

“It’s too late for them, I already took you home first. Finders keepers.”

Danny groaned and slumped into his brothers shoulder “tell them that. Besides, isn’t Nightwing supposed to be based in Bludhaven? Whats he doing in Gotham?” 

“Yeah, but he’s Nightwing. He does his own thing. At least Robin isn’t onto you yet.”

“And there you go jinxing it. Watch he’s going to show up while I’m out and about and scold me for being affiliated with you.”

“Well that little shit can go eat rocks. He already stole everything else, he’s not allowed to steal my little brother too.”

“We’re only a few hours apart.”

“You’ll always be a baby in my eyes, Danny.”

Reading the continued anger and stress over killing Jason was a surprise. But it was mainly rooted in fears of Batman breaking. Of no longer fighting the man running around rooftops.

It pissed Jason off to no end.

Only guilt the clown reject had ever felt was over the thought of Bruce not playing the game anymore.

He kept reading. And reading. And reading.

From Batman getting a new Robin to how the Bat was finally playing the game the 'correct' way again.

Then, how the new Robin was worse than the last one.

Not because he was scared or anything. Nope. It's because the kid refused to play the games Joker set up. Trying his best to quickly shut everything down as soon as he found out the Joker's plans. Making Joker himself the butt of the joke, on many occasions. Jason become particularly interested in the fact the Joker believed that the new Robin would kill him if they were alone. How the teen had tried to break the Joker's bones to keep the crazed freak in Arkham longer.

Then, Jason read an entry that made his spine crawl.

Plans to kidnap the new Robin. To make him his 'son', because Harley wanted a kid. Ideas of how he could use the kid against the Bat.

Then, more entries. Entries upon entries of how he had kidnapped the baby bird. 'Played' with his new 'son' by electrocuting the boy. Made said child intake more than the lethal dose of Joker Venom. How he'd caught all of it on camera, to send to the Batman.

Again and again.

For days.

For weeks.

For almost a whole month.

How the Joker started to doubt if Batman even cared for the new Robin.

Jason started to doubt too.

Maybe he needed to take this bird for himself.

~

He decided on actually doing a background check into Timothy Drake.

What he finds is... concerning.

Tim wasn't even 3 months old when Jack and Janet left for excavation site in Greece. Left with a nursemaid and nanny. That the new parents had only come back every few months, stayed for less than a week, then left for another dig. They stopped paying for a nanny by the time Tim was 5, leaving only a maid, who's only job was cleaning and making food. And as Tim got older, the maid was there less and less. There are several reports of a tiny Tim taking the public bus to and from school.

And then, 6 months after Jason had died, 13 year-old Tim Drake had left Gotham for half a year. After that, he came back and there was a new Robin.

Jason was stunned. Bruce didn't train Tim. At least, not for those 6 months. He made a kid miss school. The kid's parents didn't even seem to notice. Then the kid's mother dies, and yet Robin is still flying in Gotham. Tim's family lost their wealth while his father was in a coma. Said father was quick to remarry. But looking at their lives, nothing seems to connect father and son other than their blood. There's even forums on Reddit questioning if Jack Drake was abusing his kid, given how Tim makes it very clear he doesn't trust his father.

Yeah, no. Jason doesn't care if Tim was meant to be his replacement. The kid clearly has no one.

"Uh, no dude. At least, not all the time. I don't want to barely ever see you. Plus, I like helping at the soup kitchens."

"If we're kidnapping Timmy, you're the most mentally stable. And a different location entirely is needed, cause no way is the kid staying in Gotham. It'd be too easy for the Bat to get him again. On top of that, I'll be there for a full week every month. As long as there isn't a trafficking ring I need to bust."

"That seems logical but does not bode well with your track record."

"On top of all that? I want you safe."

"You know I'm borderline indestructible? More so than you, at least."

"But the Bats will hunt you down if they ever realize you're the one that killed Joker."

"Won't it be more suspicious if I suddenly disappear? And you know Tim won't want to be gone so long."

"You can come back for a week every month, I'll go to the farm for a week every month to charge the magic wards or whatever our graves are going to be there for. Halfway through my week over there, you'll go to Gotham. I'll have a half week alone with with Tim for bonding time on the farm. You'll get a half week in Gotham without babysitting. When I return to the city, I'll bring Tim to Gotham for the other half of your week. I'll let Tim spend a full week in Gotham which will half be with you there and the other half without. I'll bring Tim back to the Farm on the last day."

"That's at least a 14 hour drive where Tim could surprise you and take you down to return to Gotham. And it's super complicated. Now, by plane ride, it's pretty quick and you'd have too many people watching for him to make a scene. And you'll have to be there for the first month, or so, anyways because Tim won't trust me. At least with you there, you can tell him you're just making Bruce sweat and giving him the chance to take a break from the mask. Ancients knows he needs one, but he's not going to believe just me. And if you leave too soon, he'll feel abandoned. Tell your group that you'll be gone for three months, then we'll talk about logistics. Maybe it could be the three of us going to Gotham for a week every month and the rest is spent on the Farm? Then when we trust Tim is safer and trusts us a bit, we let him go back to the Bats. Obviously, with the blanket permission to use Red Hood as a safe house from the Bats and the ability to go to the Farm any time he wants to run off. He's a teen. He's gotta want to run away sometimes. And we'll give him the space to do so."

"I don't know about three months. Maybe two? How about after the first month, we rehash all of this? He'll need a way to do school, and summer break is only so long, even for the rich."

"Fair. But on that note, I really don't like the implications of his attendance records. Or his disciplinary records. Falling asleep in class so much is the stereotype of a teen vigilante without a proper schedule. And delinquency? I got labeled that for defending myself against bullies cause I was considered weird. I mean, I am weird. But it didn't mean that I deserved to be hurt by others. And the same should be for Tim."

"I'll offer to tutor him in English, and help with any language or arts."

"I'll cover math and science."

"While we're on the topic. How do you feel about going back to school? Just online courses."

You know what would be interesting?

Danny realizing that Jason isn't the alternate version of him. But an alternate version of Jasmine.

Jason canonically has a brother named Danny (though he's supposed to be older than him.) and had red hair before the Pits. It's even shown up after he became Red Hood in some timelines.

Which means that Jason has probably been dying his hair to mess with Bruce and Dick.

Danny realizes after he finds Jason re-dying said hair. He asks that, after they grab Tim and prove that the man was the second Robin and could be trusted, if Jason could stop dying it?

Answer? Yes. (I'm also setting this to maybe just before the Joker dying.)

~

On another note, Danny tells a few of the kids he usually reads to at the library that he'll be leaving Gotham soon. When the kids ask, he says that he'll be going to a farm.

One of the kid's pet had recently died and their parents initially said they sent it to a farm. Of course, they caught on and called their parents out. But Danny's a person, he wouldn't make the same excuses. Right?

"Um? Mister Danny?"

"Yes hun?"

"Are you... are you sick?"

"I don't look that bad, do I? Haha, no worries. I'm a bit under the weather, but that's just cause I have a heart condition."

Danny was feeling under the weather, but it was because his Death day was coming up. He wanted to leave for the farm before that, but it would be a time crunch.

Meanwhile, the kids tell their parents about it. But the parents, and subsequent friends and co-workers they tell, are convinced Danny's just moving and kids accidentally connected two unrelated things.

Except, Danny's Death day decided to start early, due to a lack of ambient ectoplasm.

The Red Hood Gang had to drag Danny to one of their doctors, as he had started seizing at one of the soup kitchens. But everyone heard about how said doctor couldn't save him. That the seizures kept getting worse.

It was also discovered that Danny was Red Hood's brother. And that the supposed lieutenant, was actually the Red Hood himself.

The members talked about how Danny tried to reassure the man that he was fine. That he was just really sick and how this happened often enough to not be a concern.

Now, so many in Crime Alley are devastated. They don't know how Red Hood would even react if they held a memorial. But apparently, he had left Gotham with Danny's body.

He had told his subordinates he'd be gone for May two months and to only contact him if there was an emergency.

~

Dick, hearing about Danny's 'death', was devastated. And angry. Why did Red Hood's men take him? Why didn't they get him to a proper hospital? Barbara and Tim are hacking the camera in the makeshift clinic to try to figure out what was going on.

Only for them to reveal a video of the Red Hood storming in, holding Danny close, begging not to lose another brother.

The man, who had tossed his helmet to the side, was begging and crying.

"Please! Please! Not you! Not you too! I can't! Can't lose another! Please! You're all I have left! Please!"

"Peter. It's okay. I won't leave. * Wet Cough* I'll be alright. Peter. Peter please, don' cry."

And suddenly, so many things made sense. Setting up on Crime Alley. Antagonizing Batman for how he treated his Robins. Calling Tim a replacement. Saying the Gotham vigilantes treated children like soldiers and cannon fodder. Threats about the new Robin, and how Batman better keep a good eye on him.

And 'Peter' had red hair and teal eyes, but looked almost exactly like Danny. As if he were a Jason that didn't dye his hair.

Dick realizing he failed to save another brother, while also having a new one that hated him for Jason's death? Oh boy, does he feel like a wreck. He's also debating on just grabbing 'Peter' and leaving him incarcerated in the Bat Cave's emergency holding cells.

He goes to the graveyard Jason was buried in. To say sorry. To beg for forgiveness. To leave flowers. To see if Danny even got to be buried next to said brother.

The longer he stares at what should be his brothers tombstone the further his stomach sinks. Those volatile sickening feelings with it. The ground beneath his feet seems to fall away. There’s a hole in his heart and God, it only seems to grow. Its maw yawning wider and wider because Jason is gone. He’s gone again and Dick hadn’t been there to catch him this time either. 

His baby brother is dead and there isn’t even a grave.

His baby brother is dead and there isn’t even a grave.

The only thing he can think is No as childish as it is. Because that was his brother. His little brother who already had too much taken from him and this too, was stolen from him. Stolen from the hands of a dead boy who died craving acceptance, trust, for something that Bruce couldn’t - wouldn’t - give him. 

Dick knows that game. Knows it so, so, well. Knows it well enough he moved to a separate city to get away from it. Jason was fifteen. He hadn’t had the chance. Wally says that it isn’t his fault.

Distantly, he knows Bruce is on the phone - that he’s still speaking to him. He hears his fathers deep tones barking through the speaker even if none of it registers. Dick's eyes drift to the side of the upturned dirt and the heavy indent where the engraved stone had once sat. Sheila Haywood's tombstone remains untouched beside the empty plot.

*

Okay but imagine being a Gothamite at this time. 

Bruce Wayne's son's grave has been robbed and Batman is carving a warpath. Not that any one puts these two (to the public at large at least) seemingly unrelated things together. Every one knows Batman had gone on that infamous downward spiral after Robin had died and this, this is all too reminiscent of that. People are scared. But Robin isn’t dead. Robin is right there by Batman’s side. Nightwing with his crackling lightning escrima sticks flanking him as well.

So who’s gone this time?

This was also the perfect time to steal away a certain bird.

"And, maybe -if you end up in Gotham, I mean- you can offer to bring some of the mother's and kids here? I know your obsession is based in protecting others. Just like mine is. It'd probably be better for us if we made some of them our neighbors. But it's mainly for protecting kids. So. If we have them taken away from Gotham, they'd immediately be safer! Of course, don't let me dictate how you manage your Haunt! But-"

"Way ahead of you, bit-bite. I actually bout a lot of the abandoned land around here. Funny enough, we're currently in a ghost town."

Danny snorted.

"I know. Perfect." Jason said dryly. "There's so few original locals here, that it wasn't an issue to buy up nearly the whole damn place! I had also gotten everything inspected and up to code. I even have places where businesses can start! Like dinners and gas stations. This place actually gets a lot more people than you'd think passing by. So small places should be good. There's even a library and an old defined school I got updated!"

"Please tell me you stole all that from Luther."

"Just like you said to."

"Sweet! That means that we can have plenty of people begin to move in. Start a small economy. Make things seem more legit after a while. And get farming started! Which means that people will be able to leave when they get back on their feet. And it'll be near impossible to influence anyone with drugs and crime. This solves so many issues! You do realize, though, that it's unlikely everyone will trust this. And you can't target too many supports in Crime Alley, otherwise their delicate balance will collapse. It's hell now. I don't want to see how much worse it could become."

"Yeah. I realized that too. I can't have too many hop over here and settle down. Especially since we need jobs to get started, before more jobs become available. Especially in the farming aspect. But I can't take too many of my men to start, otherwise I'd be leaving the Alley without defenses."

"Just stop in with them first. Ask only one or two families you know will come. Or, ask those who already have established businesses if they'd want to expand by starting up here? But getting enough people to come with the promise of a safer living environment is what we need to focus on as our end goal. We won't be able to clear out Crime Alley, as too many have set their roots down and can't imagine leaving. You need to make doubly sure, that none of it will be tracked by the Bat. Taking his bird will piss him off and we wouldn't want him hurting innocent people."

~

Jason, on the phone with some of his subordinates. "How do you feel about me moving a bunch of the women and children out of the Alley and getting them to live in rural houses?"

"When can we move? The sooner the better, honestly. The Bat is going nuts, and Nightwing is even more feral than his Robin days."

"O-kay? That's strange. Speaking of the baby bird, how's Robin doing?"

"We all figured he was holed up somewhere. It's pretty obvious if he sneaks out to patrol, as Batman becomes even more violent."

"That's actually nice to hear. Kid's staying safe and off the streets. Which is what we're also hoping to do with this new project. Hey, Macy has her teaching license, right? Was thinking of starting a school out here too. Internet is kinda crap out here."

"Macy. Donovan. Michael. Rihanna. Mia. And a few others. I'll get stuff set up and see about getting people for jobs put there first. But it's gonna be a bit slow. Don't want them thinking we're trafficking people. Nightwing might actually break the no killing rule."

"Great. I'll be watching over Danny until I'm sure there's neighbors out here. Then I'll come back to check on everyone."

"Danny's alive? Gimmie a sec." The man on the other side of the line dragged the phone from his face, put a hand over the mic to prevent blowing it out or deafening his boss, and called out to the others in the warehouse. "Guys! Guys! Danny's alive!"

And suddenly, Jason hears clamoring and cheering. How is he's and is Danny alright? Jason feels so thankful his people adore Danny almost as much as he does.

This ... Does mean that there will probably be fights on who's going to get here first.

They were already going to fight anyways. It's a chance at a better life with actual jobs and food. But the Alley always was loyal to it's own. And her people will be chomping at the bit to see Danny safe with their own two eyes.

Once that was fully started, the next step would be getting Tim.

~

A part of him still wanted to look around Gotham when he had arrived. It wasn't assured he'd even be able to come back, once he moves as many of Crime Alley out of the smog as he can convince. He knows this is Danny being just as protective of him as Jason was of Danny.

It felt nice to be so loved.

He walked around as Peter. Red hair enough of it's own disguise. The J that was once on his cheek nearly gone with enough lazer treatment and some make-up. Only to have wound back in front of the graveyard he used to be buried in.

Call it curiosity, but Jason had to peek at what he left behind.

The sight actually made him pause

A hand creeped up to cover his mouth. He hunched forwards, nearly nauseous. He knew his eyes had blown out wide.

"What. The. Fuck."

The hole made him want to crawl back to the farm house he bought and curl up where he knew he put his grave. He now understood why Danny was adamant on making sure Jason was okay with moving it. There was something... wrong in what Jason was feeling. But he couldn't be happier where he had moved it. Jason's sure Danny was right, and he'd feel better when more of his people came to live closer.

But he couldn't stay.

Not here.

Not now.

It was too much.

Especially as he felt the shift in the air, telling him he wasn't alone.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I can't."

I love your takes on Tim getting yoinked. You understand exactly that I wanted Tim to just feel loved and safe while Bruce and Dick are so angsty and angry and guilt ridden.

Literally a week after Danny's thought to have died and the Bat's find out Jason's grave is missing.

When 'Peter' comes back from who knows where, stumbles into the graveyard, and seems to have a mental breakdown at the sight of his brother's grave missing? The Bat Family are trying to figure out a way to grab him and get him off the streets.

But, instead of going out and patrolling as Red Hood, he spends two days helping people in Crime Alley pack. Word spreads quickly around the Alley, saying how Red Hood doesn't think he can protect everyone here. How he's leaving Gotham and only going to check up now and again. Refusing to tell anyone where he's left to, other than that it's where Danny had wanted to move before all this.

Then, one night they finally let Robin fly again (mostly cause the knew Tim would just sneak out on his own otherwise).

And it was just a moment.

A single moment of not looking at their littlest bird.

And he was gone.

The last thing Oracle could get from his domino mask was Tim turning around and seeing Red Hood. Then, it cuts to black. None of their trackers are working.

There's the slightest possibility that Peter didn't kill Tim.

But they know that it would track, given all the recent trauma. Having one brother die as Robin, then the other die to seizures, only to find someone stole your other brother's grave? Plus, all the threats that were made before. The ones they thought were just Peter trying to get the Bats to watch their newest bird better, like they didn't do for the one before.

Dick was going insane.

How could everything go so wrong so quickly?

~

Bruce, on the other hand, is kicking himself for even doing the whole test on Tim's 16th birthday, right before all this happened. He felt worse for never apologizing.

Now, he might never get the chance.

~

Meanwhile, Tim gets woken up by a cow licking his face. All he remembers is Hood tranquilizing him. And Peter and Danny are rough housing in a bed of clovers and grass. Tim even sees Jason's tombstone on a new plot in the backyard he's in, with another grave labeled Daniel Fenton next to it.

And, for a moment, Tim thinks he's died and gone to a sort of heaven.

He's still not convinced he's fully alive as time drags on in the farmhouse. It's the only house in the area that actually connects to the wider farmlands and areas they have cattle and such. All the other houses are miles away in their own little community. With all of them being people who once lived in Crime Alley.

It was so much sunnier here.

Jason, as who he thought was Peter but was corrected, would fuss at him to wear sunscreen. Danny took him out stargazing

The name felt like another point towards the theory he was dead. But he didn't want to ruin the mood by bringing it up. Especially since he's pretty sure it was Peter that killed him.

Danny and Jason were really good at hand to hand combat. So they taught Tim. They taught him how to prowl through the tall grass and how to use a variety of guns on a range.

Jason even helped him with literature comprehension. After a debate with Danny between themes on a book they were reading lead to Tim revealing it was all gibberish to him. When Jason had joked about sneaking off to do patrols on school nights, Tim had corrected him and said he had missed a lot of school because Batman needed him. The look of devastation had lead to Tim quickly asking Jason if he could help him catch up on everything he needed to know.

Even though it's not like he'd go to school the next year.

Danny had taken that as the chance to teach him engineering and chemistry, as well as math and any science he thought Tim should know. From advanced biology to inter-dimesional travel. And took to even making a 'Portal' with him.

The schematics seemed otherworldly. And the math hurt his brain to look at.

Jason seemed really happy that they were getting along though. When he wasn't busy, the three of them would garden.

Though, how Jason could stand to garden when he spent all day helping set up the larger farm lands with the people in town, Tim didn't know. Maybe it helped that Danny had created seeds for super plants that didn't take long to grow but capped their growth after a certain height? Maybe because this was the afterlife and nothing had to make sense?

Tim didn't really know, but he hid himself away to take a good cry at how loved he felt.

If this was what life after death was like, he hoped his mother and father had found ones just as happy. Even if they weren't part of his.

~

Danny had heard the crying. He knew it wasn't from fear or stress. Quite the opposite. Danny could feel it was of love and relief. But it still didn't make Danny feel good.

"He probably just misses Gotham, Danny. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to run off or contact Bruce yet."

"Well, the portal is almost done. It's only been this long cause I was trying to teach Tim. But I'll just finish it up so you two can travel between places faster."

"I'm genuinely worried for how smart you are. How did you not become a rogue?"

"Technically was, for a bit. Was a vigilante too, but that was hell in a hand basket. Mainly cause I delt with the dead and undead."

"And being undead is considered it's own crime."

Danny snorted and Jason cracked a grin.

~

"Hey, Tim. The portal is almost done. I decided to just finish it up real quick, since I thought you must be missing Gotham. I'll teach you how to make a complete portal next time, okay?"

"Wait, what? I can go visit?"

"Yeah, of course! We didn't want you stuck here forever if you didn't want to stay. We just thought that you needed a break from the Bat. If you want to stay longer, that's okay. But Jason is going to go to Gotham anyways to check on the people still in the Alley. You can come back with him or you can stay there. And you can come back anytime you want. You'll always have a place here."

"Are you sure?"

"Course!"

~

The portal knocked Tim out going through it.

Jason had been holding on to the other, in case of anything happening. So he was easily able to catch the kid. Danny had warned that it could happen, because the kid had no ectoplasm and was probably never exposed to it.

He dragged the kid to the Alley clinic. Sue him, he wasn't going to take the chance it could be something more serious than just the inability to comprehend the spaces between reality.

When Tim woke up and called him Peter, Jason assumed it was because there were people around and they needed to keep up the disguise.

~

When Tim woke up later that night, with Red Hood over him in a clinic, he assumes he had died to an overdose of tranquilizer and Danny and Jason sent him back.

"Hey baby bird." Peter said, tired and clearly worried. "You were out longer than you should have been. Glad to see you're okay."

And Peter hugged him.

They really were triplets. Their hugs all felt the same. Holding him tightly and close to their hearts, despite the danger he possessed.

~

That night saw Red Hood and Robin working together. Patrolling like it was something they'd always done. And Hood was quick to protect and defend the teen bird. And just as quick to get them out of areas when they heard the Bats coming.

~

By morning, Tim Drake found himself standing at the front door of the Wayne Manor, asking Alfred if he could come in.

He doesn't tell them much. Other than Red Hood accidentally gave him too much in the tranquilizer and how the man was just trying to make sure nothing would happen to Robin while the Bats were acting eratic.

And then to come back and automatically figure that Peter Red Hood killed him by accident? Wonderful. He probably thinks Jason and Danny didn't want Tim's death on their last living brother Peter's conscience and that's why they sent him back.

But they DID say that Tim could come back anytime he wanted. So how do you return to heaven? Cue Tim orchestrating more Near-Death-Experiences for himself so that he can see Jason and Danny again.

Damian.

I was going to have Talia look at how Bruce was acting and go, "Hell no!" And take Damian to Jason on the farm. After all, if he's willing to take custody of Tim, then surely he'd take his littlest brother too? Look Damian, they're training! No killing here, you need to learn from them. You remember Jason? Your big brother is taking care of all his little brother right now and that includes you.

Jason pulls Danny and Tim aside to explain that Bruce's biological son is going to stay with them. That he was raised in a death cult. Tim knows about the League of Assassins. Knows Talia is Bruce's ex wife. Jason confirms that he's Talia's son, and that he's going to be here because there was an attack on Ra's that killed him. Talia wasn't going to revive her father with the pits. But Talia can't bring Damian back right now. (Tim wishes that part was explained more.)

Damian, there two weeks before his birthday so he's only 9, has a baby version of Bruce's face. Jason introduces him to the other two.

Tim's face is very obviously sad for a moment, before he smiles and greets Damian. "I'm sad we met like this, but I'm so happy to get the chance to know you now."

Everyone takes this to mean Tim wishes he could have been there for Damian earlier in his life. Tim thinks Damian died before Bruce ever got to meet him.

Damian and Jason leave for a bit. Apparently, Damian wanted to see Gotham for a moment. The brothers were worried he'd run off on his own and disappear. (Tim takes this as Ghosts wouldn't be able to withstand being alone in Gotham too long.)

Jason and Damian come back with a cow they took from a slaughterhouse. Damian calls her Bat-cow, given the pattern across her face mimicking the famous insignia like a domino mask. (This becomes another point to being dead.)

Danny become the general science teacher for the town. Damian starts going to school there, just so he can start getting used to having peers.

Tim made a birthday cake with Danny and Jason's help, as they made a solely vegetarian dinner for the boy. They sang happy birthday and Tim gave Damian a quick scarf he had made in the last two weeks. It was his first time doing things like this. He was so happy to have a family and was happy that he could tell Damian was warming up to them all faster than he probably would have in the manor.

Damian was like a cat; he didn't want to be held and he didn't want to be viewed as weak or less than. The trauma was obvious to Tim, and part of him wished he could break Talia's face with his bare hands.

~

When Tim goes back to Gotham, he's suddenly vegetarian and asking Bruce if anything recently happened almost two months ago with the League of Assassins. Which gets Bruce paranoid and he finds out about the attack. He also finds out Talia had a son that was involved, but no pictures to see the boy's face.

Tim confesses everything that happened while 'dead' to Steph and says how he does know how to bring up Damian to Bruce.

After Red Hood takes Tim again, for his reckless behavior, Stephanie tells the Bats.

"I think he was trying to die again."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Tim was very sure that he died to an overdose from the tranquilizer. Said he met Jason, Danny, and a boy named Damian. He said Damian arrived there shortly after he did. Because of an attack on the League of Assassins, and that Talia couldn't bring him back. He said- he said that he didn't know how to bring it up to you. How to ask if you knew Talia had your son. Or that he'd died two weeks before his birthday."

Calling Talia on the Bat computer only made them feel it was confirmed when she confirmed there had been an attack on the League.

"I was going to introduce you to him on his teeth birthday. That didn't happen. Now, Damien is with Jason and Danny. I hope they do a better job of protecting him than I could."

Then she hung up.

To them, Talia had broken her mask and shown a form of grief.

They also realized Tim was trying to commit suicide to rejoin the other boys.

In life, itself.

Jason explains to Danny about how Tim thought this was the afterlife and was trying to kill himself to come back. Both are really touched but also disturbed that Tim didn't feel he had people that loved him in life. Enough to stay alive, at least.

Damian, on the other hand, is listening in while shakily petting a chicken. He's very distressed. But also feels very loved. Dying, especially killing one's self, was considered dishonorable among the League.

But Tim had wanted to die if it ment he could see them again? Immediately, Tim gets seen as the most loyal brother. And the one that needs to be reassured that Damian wants him around. Jason and Danny will let Damian's words roll of their back like water off a duck's. But Tim needs care. Just like the animals Damian has grown to love.

he's anidala's permanent third wheel. literally attached at the hip with anakin, full force dyad going on, their bond is so intense and lifelong and unbreakable and yet incredibly platonic. the twins have a whole additional parent who a) did not sign up for this and b) is not now nor has ever been romantically involved with their actual parents, and yet is decidedly part of the throuple somehow

jedi master obi-wan kenobi did not volunteer to be a platonic addition to the amidala-skywalker family, yet somehow "family outings" always include him? he's taking shifts in the night when the twins are young - temporarily, obviously, as an act of compassion and friendship - but then he somehow ends up with a permanent room in the amidala-skywalker household and everyone just... rolls with that? he has a whole separate life going on at the jedi temple, so why is he on the chore chart? and doing the chores? and getting mad when the space dishwasher is suboptimally packed? and he's ended up on the rotation of people the twins cry for??? they've got 'mama', 'dada', and 'o-bba'???? and that's him??!??!?

obi-wan is adopted into the family in much the way of a feral cat: he has no intention of joining them and is actively hostile to the idea, only to look around a year later and realise he's become a key and foundational member. despite, and this is critical, having no romantic involvement whatsoever in the married-with-kids scenario

Daemon should have seen the trap for what it was and anticipated that eventually Otto Hightower would give in to his greed and grasp for his daughter, but several reasonably mild suppers at his brother’s table over the past few moons had relaxed his guard, just in time for the scheming cunt to broach the topic of betrothals at last.

At a meal where Rhaenyra and her sons are not present, naturally.

And he knew why. The man lusted after his daughter’s dragon, and hoped that he might earn a hostage of use against Daemon. It did not help that Rhaella, who would flower soon, was the very image of patience and grace in enduring the hungry eyes of his loathsome nephews. Daemon would not have faulted her had she fallen to the temptation of setting Qelebrys upon either, or taken to threatening them with the jeweled dagger he had gifted her for her most recent name day.

At the very least he knew that Jon would guard his sister, should they ever forget themselves.

Viserys’s laugh was nervous as it broke the sudden silence. “The matter of my niece’s match should be considered most carefully, of course.”

His two eldest nephews were glaring at one another, plainly viewing his daughter as just another pretty thing to squabble over, while the queen fixed her with a watery smile, as though already imagining her as a good-daughter.

Before Daemon could utter the challenge that rose in his heart, his daughter’s laughter rang out, light and musical. “The matter is simple, uncle.” She turned to kiss her brother on the cheek. “Who else should I marry but the one who knows my heart best? I could not bear to be parted from him.” 

Jon’s eyes widened, his voice emerging a croak from his throat. “Me?”

Aegon and Aemond turned their frowns upon his son instead, and Daemon spoke before either his brother or his brother’s Hand could raise an objection. “Why should she not? Our mother and father had a deep love for one another, and she would be the lady of Runestone, rather than wedding a prince with no prospects.”

Jon’s stare went to Daemon, his support seeming to take his son by surprise. Does he think that I would force his sister to wed Rhaenyra’s heir, simply so that she would be queen? Even my grandfather did not ask that of my mother. She and her brothers were allowed to choose the match they pleased.

A consideration that Daemon had not been permitted, of course.

Rhaella’s smile had faded slightly, concern falling over her expression as she studied her brother. “Is there—do you prefer another?”

“No!” Jon said, his voice strangled, though he seemed to wince then. “That is, I—had not thought about it.”

His daughter relaxed, leaning into his side. “Well, we are still young for such things. It is not a matter that need take up much of our thoughts yet.”

Jon gave a tight nod, his smile seeming frozen on his face. Daemon could almost feel the panic radiating from him. Has he truly given no thought to marriage? He frowned. Did his whoreson of a cousin convince him that he was not worthy?

He’s constantly overhearing funny bits and pieces of conversation but none of it is strictly incriminating (e.g. Bella: “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse… wait. Is that something you’ve tried?” Edward: “I haven’t, but in 1972 Emmett and Jasper learned the phrase ‘double dog dare’. I’ll leave it at that”)

He’s on a hike and turns his head just a half-second too late to see Esme tackle a bear into a ditch, out of sight